Telangana: Digvijay broods over wasted time

Regretting that the 15th Lok Sabha has set the record of maximum wastage of time, Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Thursday said that MPs who disrupt proceedings should be suspended.

Singh was speaking at a discussion where BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said that it was the lack of discipline in the ruling party which disrupted the proceedings.

"A record of maximum wastage of time has been created during the 15th Lok Sabha....The public sends representatives so that they answer questions and take part in discussions. But more time goes in protests by members that you hear us or we'll not allow the proceedings," Singh said.

He said that despite there being rules in Lok Sabha as well as Rajya Sabha, no action is taken against the people who do not allow Parliament to function.

"There is a rule in Lok Sabha's business rules that whoever comes to the Well of the House is automatically suspended but it has not been used. But it seems that the rule should be used so that the people can get a chance to discuss the Rail Budget or important bills," Singh said.

Singh, who was speaking at a discussion organised by TV channel 'Aaj Tak', said that the challenge was that the faith of the people in politics and politicians was waning and people should not feel that no work is done in Parliament.

Responding to Singh, Prasad said that from 11 AM onwards when Parliament assembles, his party MPs sit silent as the ruling party members disrupt proceedings.

"Don't they have no control over their members. For three days in Rajya Sabha, their own members have been coming to the Well of the House, saying create Telangana. We have also supported the demand, but their ministers .... but their own Chief Minister sits on a dharna against it," Prasad, who is BJP's deputy leader in Rajya Sabha, said.

The two leaders also sparred over the performance of Gujarat chief Minister Narendra Modi who is the BJP's prime ministerial candidate.

Reacting to the remarks of the BJP leader, Singh said that even before the Telangana issue arose, it had become common since 2009 to stall Parliament over a particular issue.

On the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls, he said his party favoured contesting elections on issues rather than personalities.

Questioning the BJP Prime Ministerial candidate's record of governance in Gujarat, Singh asked which state had more than 20 of its police officers in jail. He also asked which state had seen an increase in the number of the malnourished.

Defending Modi, Prasad said the figures had shown the number of the malnourished had come down in Gujarat and the people in the state had rejected the claims being made.

To a question on caste issue, Prasad said that BJP had promoted leaders from backward sections of the society.

Prasad also questioned Singh's claim of being secular and asked as to why he had been raising questions about the Batla house encounter. Singh responded by saying he had only demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident.

The BJP leader wanted to know why the country's economy had suffered when the government was being headed by an economist.

Singh retorted by saying that the performance of the UPA government was better than that of NDA.

To a question on AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, Prasad said simplicity is not flaunted and added there were leaders who washed their own clothes but never highlighted it.